CHENNAI: India’s cricket board has welcomed back 79 cricketers to the fold after they cut ties with the ‘rebel’ Indian Cricket League (ICL).
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in April players wishing to be considered for the international side had to ditch the unofficial league by May 31.
Among the players readmitted were former caps Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia and Sridharan Sriram. However, only four Pakistan players who signed up for the ICL have taken up the amnesty offered by their board.
A senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved and Imran Nazir from about 20 players had informed the board of their decision to resign from the ICL by the May 31 deadline.
“The rest of the ICL players have not contacted us so apparently they have other plans in their minds,” former Pakistan test captain and director of human resources Wasim Bari said yesterday.
The PCB cleared Yousuf and Razzaq to be considered for national selection without any penalties while Bari said the cases of Naved and Nazir were still under consideration.
While the players from India will be eligible to rejoin official domestic cricket, they will need to serve a “cooling off” period of one year from their return date before they qualify for international selection again, BCCI said.
“The BCCI, after scrutinizing their requests, has written to the concerned state associations (saying) that these players are eligible to play in the domestic tournaments for this year,” the BCCI said in a statement yesterday.
“Guidelines with respect to participation in (the) Indian Premier League will be intimated in due course.”
The ICL, bankrolled by one of India’s largest media firms, launched the league following India’s triumph in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007.
Apart from several fringe Indian players, it signed overseas players, particularly from Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
However, the BCCI, concerned the league would undermine its position, refused to recognize it and persuaded other national boards to ban players who signed up.
The International Cricket Council had in April rejected an application from the ICL seeking approval for their Twenty20 competition.
